We all know that for any neighborhood to succeed as a healthy place, neighbors must be engaged in managing the day-to-day issues that confront them on their block and in their neighborhood. And the investment of neighbors in these kinds of day-to-day activities will be greater if they have a stake in the outcome of the improvement of the neighborhood as a whole. It is with that in mind that Lackawanna Neighbors started ?The Revitalization of the Hill? project.The Scranton Hill section, once a proud reminder of the beauty of Scranton, had become a run-down neighborhood known more for its crime than for the grand, stately homes that makeup the bulk of the neighborhood.What once was a place for the affluent and the community-minded had become a hovel for low income housing and all the baggage that comes with a community of that nature.The transformation from a safe, respected community to a place which most Scrantonians avoided at all costs was not at all abrupt, but rather was the result of decades of varying social and economic decline.The Revitalization of the Hill seeks not only to remedy this decline, but also to transform the neighborhood as a whole into a place that is desirable to live. The approach, of course, is not an easy one, and it starts with the very people that make up the neighborhood.

Lackawanna Neighbors knew that if we wanted to fix the Hill we had to start at the most basic level of the community, the people. In order to fix the neighborhood, we were going to have get the help of the very people that made up the neighborhood. And if we wanted their help, we had to give them a reason to offer it. No one is willing to work unless they have a goal to reach. How would Lackawanna Neighbors help them, help the community?Well, we started by fixing up the buildings they lived in, the streets they walked on and the yards their children played in. We worked to make the neighborhood a safer place to live and by that, offered them something they could understand – peace of mind. Through the physical remodeling of their environment we were able to remodel their outlook on their community.We purchased old, run down houses and renovated them. We added streetlights, cleared out refuse and landscaped yards to create a more open and friendly atmosphere. We even took down fences and, when we had to, took down houses. And, it worked.

As people saw the neighborhood healing, their feelings toward the town they lived in changed. Now they had a reason to help, a reason to work and best of all, a reason to stay. But our commitment didn’t end there; we aren’t finished yet.The Scranton Hill is still in need of continued renovation and the battle is only half won. There are still homes to be fixed, streets to be cleaned and opinions to be changed. And now we need your help.